Shank Cat’s Bar-B-Que: “No Teeth Required”

Housed in a weathered, old wooden building that once served as a country schoolhouse, Shank Cat’s Bar-B-Que sits just a stone’s throw off of I-49 in Frierson, Louisiana. The business is named for the original proprietor, Carrie “Shank Cat” Scott, who passed away in 1995 at the age of 85. A giant, painted wooden sign hanging at the entrance reads “Home of the Finest, No Teeth Required.” While I can confirm that the country-style ‘que served up here is tender and delicious, the place itself is every bit as interesting as the wallet-friendly sandwiches, ribs and smoked chicken plates that come out of the kitchen.

A sampler plate from Shank Cat’s Bar-B-Que in Frierson, La.

The chalkboard menu lists a “greatest hits” of barbeque standards, including chopped beef sandwiches, rib plates, hot links and smoked chicken. Seating is limited to a few communal tables, and the restaurant’s regulars – mostly oil and gas workers – eat together or stand at the pick-up window, chatting and waiting for to-go orders. The restaurant’s fate is so closely tied to that of the region’s oil and gas industry that the Wall Street Journal sent a photographer to Shank Cat’s in March 2012 (see the photo essay here). On-line searches for Shank Cat’s turn up that photo essay, an Urbanspoon listing that I created, and not much else. It’s remote, it’s off-the-beaten-path, and yet is only about a 20-minute drive from downtown Shreveport.

Shreveport-Bossier, located at a cultural intersection where Cajun and Creole tastes blend with the Texan love of applying flame to meat, is a place that seems to have an endless appetite for barbeque. If you’re the kind of person who delights in finding new, quirky or far-flung places to scarf down a chopped beef sandwich or a rib plate, I highly recommend making the trek out to Shank Cat’s.